Reading the Future: The Lightning Thief
by Winds of the Desert
Summary: Percy, Thalia, Nico, and Rachel all travel back in time to read the books with the Olympians and some camp friends, but theres a problem; who is the mysterious girl who brought them there? She seems friendly but does she work for Kronos instead? ON HIATUS
1. Prologue: Andromeda Explains

The winter solstice. A traditional gathering every year on Olympus. On this particular solstice, a group of demigods from Camp Half-Blood were taking a field trip to learn about 'godly politics'. But someone else had other plans.

/\/\/\/\

Chiron led the group of young demigods and a satyr through Olympus, explaining how the meetings usually went. The group was relatively small; Clarisse La Rue from the Ares cabin; Annabeth Chase from the Athena cabin; Travis and Connor Stoll from the Hermes cabin, along with their half-brother Chris Rodriguez; Charles Beckendorf from the Hephaestus cabin; Katie Gardener from the Demeter cabin; Pollux and Castor from the Dionysus cabin; and Silena Beauregard from the Aphrodite cabin, along with Grover the satyr.

He was just about to move on from their location in the gardens and explain more about the solstice when suddenly Hermes appeared, making them all jump. "Dad!" cried Travis and Connor at the same time. Hermes smiled at his sons, but his expression was grim. "Hi boys. I'm sorry, but this is business. Chiron, we need you and the kids up in the throne room ASAP. There's been an incident," he said in a very urgent tone.

Chiron narrowed his eyes while the demigods began whispering to each other in surprise. "Alright then," he said, and he and Hermes both led the way up to the main palace of Olympus.

/\/\ _Meanwhile, about five years into the future._ /\/\

"So, you finally going to prove you have the guts to drive a car, fish boy?"

"You're on, freckle-face!"

Percy Jackson was walking toward his stepdad's Prius with his friend Rachel Dare, joking about his driving and fully intent on simply taking the car for a short spin, when a light suddenly exploded in front of them. They were both yanked forward into it, screaming in surprise as the light encased them completely.

/\/\/\/\

Nico di Angelo crept behind a huge pillar of stone inside the half-built palace of Othrys on top of Mount Tam, his eyes darting about, scanning for monsters. 'Weird. This is Kronos' headquarters. Shouldn't there be more guards?' he thought as he stared suspiciously at the oddly quiet grounds, but before he could contemplate this, a bright flash of light burst in front of him, and with a swift _yank, _he was flung head-long into a tunnel of light.

/\/\/\/\

Thalia Grace stood scowling down at her latest catch; a huge boar that had been causing her quite a lot of trouble along with her friends the Hunters. "Bizarre. It's like it dropped dead before I could hit it," she murmured quietly.

"Thalia! Did you find it?" yelled one of her fellow Hunters from behind a thicket of bushes. Thalia was about to yell back when she was blinded by huge supernova appearing in front of her and snatching her into it's light.

/\/\ _Back on Olympus where we left off. _/\/\

Chiron noticed five odd things about the throne room when he entered with Hermes and the kids. One: Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades weren't trying to kill each other like they usually did on each solstice. Two: All of the gods and goddesses were gathered around a large golden table in the middle of the room. Three: Athena was holding a note, her eyes darting across it. Four: A stack of at least seven books stood on the table. And Five: A girl around thirteen with auburn hair and grey eyes was standing beside them, her eyes watching each god or goddess carefully, as if she were calculating a plan to beat them all in a fight.

"What is this all about?" asked Chiron as he entered. The demigods flinched in surprise that he would address them so casually, but when the gods and goddesses turned to him, Zeus seemed a little relieved.

"Ah, Chiron, good. We've had a- uh, surprise visit from someone who says she knows you. Care to explain a little?" he asked. He directed his eyes toward the girl with auburn hair, who looked back at him coldly, clearly unafraid to show open hostility towards him.

Now that he could see her a little more clearly, Chiron's eyes widened. "Andromeda Asphodel," he said, his voice filled with shock and sadness. "Who is she? Is she an enemy?" asked Ares, his eyes begging for a fight.

"Good to see you too, Chiron," the girl said, her voice cold and tired, as if she had aged a thousand years within the time it took her to turn to him. "Chiron, who is this? !" asked Zeus, a little impatient – though mostly he was angry that she'd looked at him like he was nothing but an annoyance.

"She's my half-sister," said Chiron, his eyes narrowing now that his shock had subsided, "She's a daughter of Kronos." As soon as he said the name, the room dropped a few degrees, and the gods stiffened, slowly reaching for their weapons.

Andromeda sniffed disdainfully. "No need to act so hostile, my dear Olympians. I am simply here on a request from my masters, the Fates," she said, freezing everyone in place out of surprise.

"What do they want?" asked Hades suspiciously, his hand still resting on his fighting staff just in case. Andromeda turned to him, her eyes still cold, though they held a bit of sadness.

"Peace, brother Hades. They have instructed me to help you change a few things in the future; things that went wrong, things that never should have happened. To do so, I had to wait for the best moment; a solstice where not only all of the gods were present, but also some very influential demigods are here as well. We are still missing a few demigods, but they will be here shortly," she said, her voice so filled with fatigue she sounded like she hadn't slept in years.

"Why would they do this? The Fates have never cared what happened to human-kind or the gods before now!" said Athena, looking both suspicious and confused at the same time.

Andromeda turned to her. "True. They have never shown any interest in human events before. Even I do not understand this completely, but I was instructed to come here. These books," she said, pointing her finger at the pile of books on the table, "Are from the future. The first is from a year from now. It details the events from the view point of one demigod in particular, and it details his role in the coming war. The Fates told me that to stop the bad things completely, we all would have to read these books, word for word. But not until the last few demigods arrive. Until then, we must wait."

Everyone in the room looked different; Chiron, Hades, and Ares still looked suspicious of her; Zeus, Poseidon, and Athena looked thoughtful; the rest of the gods looked confused; the demigods and Grover all looked dizzy with the information. Andromeda kept a completely neutral face, her eyes bloodshot with lack of sleep, but she stayed firmly on her feet.

"Alright then. We'll read them, but only to stop these 'awful things' from happening," said Zeus. The other gods and goddesses slowly nodded their heads in agreement, and they all returned to their thrones; small guest chairs popped up for the demigods, though Grover had to sit on the floor. Zeus was still mad about the Thalia incident.

When an extra chair appeared for Andromeda, she looked extremely sad. "Don't bother, Zeus. In exchange for immortality and my powers to control time, the Fates require that I never rest. No sleep. No relaxing. I cannot even sit down," she sighed mournfully, gazing at the chair longingly.

Zeus blinked and made the chair disappear quickly. Slowly time ticked by in silence…. Nothing happened. Finally, Apollo burst out, "Where the heck are these final demigods? ! I just want to get this over with!"

Hermes nodded in agreement. "Yes. Let's just get this over with already!" snapped a very moody looking Dionysus. Andromeda stared at him with her usual cold stare. "Silence yourself, you useless drunk. They will be here in a few moments," she ordered.

The whole room seemed to tense at her words as Dionysus's face turned purple with rage. "You dare insult me? !" he snarled. Andromeda smiled humorlessly. "Indeed I do. I am a daughter of Kronos; if you have the guts to blast me, I can simply twitch an eye and you will be dragged straight to Tartarus. Do not test me, you drunken moron, or I will not hold back." Andromeda hissed so icily several demigods trembled involuntarily.

Castor and Pollux looked horrified at the prospect of their father being dragged to Tartarus, but before either they or Dionysus could say anything, a bright light appeared above the table in the middle of the room.

"Ah, here they are," said Andromeda approvingly, and suddenly four figures came tumbling out of the light straight onto the table.

/\/\/\/\

Percy opened his eyes slowly, just in case the light hadn't faded completely and it blinded him again. "Percy?" moaned Rachel from nearby, her voice filled with fuzzy pain. "Yeah?" he said; he felt exhausted, like all of his energy had left along with the bright light.

"Where are we?" she asked. She slowly came into focus in front of Percy's fuzzy vision; her hair was strewn around her like it had been ripped around by a hurricane. "No idea," he said, looking around.

Another two forms were right behind him, and he recognized them instantly; his cousins, Thalia Grace and Nico di Angelo. "What-the-hell? !" snapped Thalia, her voice filled with venom as she got to her hands and knees unsteadily. Nico sat up slowly beside her, shaking his head to try to clear it.

"Ahem."

A throat cleared behind Percy, and he turned to see a sight that made him recoil in shock; all of the Olympian gods and goddesses in their thrones, some of his friends from camp, and a strange girl all staring at him and his friends in something like surprise and slight concern.

"Whoa, what the hell? !" said Nico, his eyes wide with shock, "What are we doing in Olympus? !" "That's where we are?" asked Rachel, her eyes filled with awe as she gazed at the gods like they were skyscrapers; which they practically were, but that's beside the point.

As they all stared in shock, tongue-tied, the strange girl with auburn hair walked up to them, with a truly affectionate smile. "Welcome, heroes, to Olympus. I understand that this must be disorienting, but you have all traveled five years into the past," she said, and she went on to explain her name, her mission, and where they were and why.

"Well, that explains the dizziness; it's worse than shadow-traveling," groaned Nico, holding his head to try and drive away the pounding headache there. Thalia was gazing at Andromeda with open hostility, though Percy had a feeling her eyes were mostly trained on her father Zeus, who was directly behind Andromeda.

"Why do you need us here?" asked Rachel; she had handled everything pretty well, and now she was genuinely curious. Andromeda explained, "You four all play a significant role in the future. You were all needed to be here to help everyone understand what is happening. Besides, I'm sure if I simply came empty-handed, the gods would become suspicious and think I was lying. With you here, we can avoid unnecessary suspicion."

Nico narrowed his eyes. "Sounds OK. But why _us _in particular?" he asked. Andromeda smiled. "All four of you are more important than you can possibly realize. That is all I can say for now," she said.

Meanwhile, the gods had been waiting patiently for her to finish, but the demigods were all twitching with impatience. "Can we get a move on already? !" snapped Clarisse, scaring Travis and Connor out of their game of paper football.

Andromeda did not look pleased, but she nodded. "It is best of we get this going as soon as possible. Who has the books now?" she asked, and Apollo raised his hand. "I was looking at them and I must say, these sound awesome! Monsters and prophecies everywhere; just my kind of book!" he said, his eyes filling with fake emotional tears of joy.

"What are they called, anyway?" asked Demeter, and Apollo read, "_Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, the Sea of Monsters, the Titan's Curse, the Battle of the Labyrinth, and the Last Olympian. _Then _The Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero, the Son of Neptune, and the Mark of Athena._"

Murmurs of interest drifted through the air, but Poseidon did not join in; his mind was racing with surprise. 'Percy? He's only eleven right now; is he really in danger from monsters already? !' he thought, then he silently cursed in frustration; he couldn't ask Andromeda right now, not in front of the entire Olympian council. Zeus would storm right down to Percy's and his mother's apartment building and blow it up.

"So, who are these new arrivals?" asked Aphrodite, drawing Poseidon out of his shock, though she looked more interested with looking at her reflection in Ares' armor. Andromeda pursed her lips and said, "It is better if you only know theirs names. Their godly parents will be revealed in the books. Besides, I'd very much like to avoid one of you blowing them up."

She was talking to the entire council, but her eyes remained fixed on Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, and they all shifted uncomfortably.

Before things could get awkward, Percy stepped forward. "My name's Percy Jackson," he said, waving his hand in a choppy salute. Thalia elbowed him in the ribs playfully. "Save it for someone who cares, Perce. My name's Thalia Grace," she said. Everyone gasped sharply. Annabeth, who'd been trying to hold back from bursting out with surprise at her appearance, suddenly exploded, "WHAT? ! You're a tree! How are you here? !"

Several of her friends looked at her in surprise; they had never seen her so upset before, but Thalia laughed. "Oh, well, Prissy Princess Percy here saved me from my tree-ness. I'm guessing that'll be a part of the books," she said, and Percy grumbled, "And I regret it every day, Pinecone Face."

Thalia punched him in the arm, making him let out a strangled gasp of pain as he rubbed it tenderly. "Damn it! Must you hit me every time we see each other? !" he snapped. "Yes. Yes I do," she said.

Before either of them could kill each other, Rachel stepped up. "I'm Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Um….. I'm not a demigod. Why am I here?" Some of the gods tensed, but Andromeda said, "You play a _very _important part in the story. We needed you here as well."

The gods relaxed slightly, though they looked a little uncomfortable. Meanwhile, Zeus was having a major inner freak out; his daughter was alive! HELL YES! It was all he could do to keep himself from leaping up and hugging his little girl like he'd wanted to do a million times ever since she'd become a tree. He kept his face neutral.

Hades was studying Nico like he was a nuclear bomb that had to be disarmed. 'There's no doubt about it; that's Nico alright. But how is he here? ! He's supposed to be in the Lotus Hotel and Casino!' he thought, panic rising slightly in his chest. If his son was I danger, hell was going to break loose on the ones who threatened him. Meanwhile Nico was trying to look anywhere but at his dad; he had his eyes trained firmly on the star-studded ceiling.

"Well, introduce yourself!" snapped Thalia, punching him in the arm to get him out of his stupor. "OW! Geez, Thals, you're punches hurt!" he gasped, covering his arm before she could hit him again.

She growled at him, and he sighed. "Fine. I'm Nico di Angelo. Happy now?" he hissed at her. Thalia rolled her eyes at him. "Yes. Now, let's get this show on the road, shall we?" she suggested.

/\/\/\/\

Four more chairs appeared for them, and they all sat down, a little separate from the other demigods to avoid their questioning eyes. "Now, before we begin, there is only one thing left to say; Percy, Nico, Thalia, and Rachel have lived thorough the first four books already, but none of you are permitted to pester them for information about anything past what we have read, and none of you can ask me about anything past the first four books as well. Is that clear?" asked Andromeda.

"What? ! That's not fair!" wailed the Stoll twins. "Yeah! We wanna know more-!" protested Katie, but Andromeda fixed her with an icy glare. She immediately shut up.

"Is that clear?" she asked again. A murmur of grudging assent rose from the group, the Stoll's, Katie, and even Apollo and Hermes looking the most disappointed. "Good. Who shall read first?" asked Andromeda, summoning the books to her hands.

Percy raised his hand. "I may as well start. This is from my point of view, right?" he asked, and Andromeda nodded as she levitated the book towards him. He caught it and opened it to the first page.

"Okay. First chapter's called….."

/\/\/\/\

_A/N: Wow. Longest prologue I've ever written! LOL! Anyways… yep. I'm being a total 'follow the leader'; there are millions of stories like these out there, but I decided it's about damn time I started one, so here it is! I hope you enjoy this! I'll try to update at least once a week, but that just depends on the length of the chapter. Laters people!  
>-Wind<em>


	2. I Accidentally Vaporize My Math Teacher

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN PERCY JACKSON! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !**

_A/N: Hey people! First chapter is HERE! So, I gotta warn you guys; the version of Percy Jackson they're reading is actually my fanfiction version. My character Andromeda will not only appear in the past on Olympus but she'll be in the main future storyline they're reading about; Percy just doesn't remember her because she erased his memory. She's basically like Io from 'Clash of the Titans (2010)'. She's Percy's protector, they fall in love, etc, etc, etc. And if you have a problem with that, you can just find another story to read!_

_Anyway, on with the story!_

/\/\/\/\

"**I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher,**" Percy read, but he stopped and grimaced; this was not something he wanted to relive again. "You vaporized your pre-algebra teacher?" asked Charles Beckendorf. "Awesome!" cried the Stoll brothers, but they were silenced by a glance from Andromeda.

"Continue please, Percy," she said in her usual quiet tone of authority. Percy didn't need to be told twice; her voice was beautiful, but he got the feeling that disobeying her would lead to a long and painful death.

**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.**

"Nobody does," said Nico, and all of the demigods grimaced while all of the Olympians – even Hades, Dionysus, and Ares – flinched at the tone of pain he said it with. Percy continued:

**If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.**

"Huh. You actually gave some intelligent advice there, Perce," said Thalia with a thin smile. The Olympians flinched again.

**Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.**

"_Total _understatement," Percy, Thalia, and Nico all said at the same time. The other demigods nodded as well, though Clarisse looked a little bored already.

**If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.**

**But if you recognize yourself in these pages – if you feel something stirring inside – stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before _they _sense it too, and they'll come for you.**

**Don't say I didn't warn you.**

**My name is Percy Jackson.**

**I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.**

**Am I a troubled kid?**

"Yes!" chorused Nico, Thalia, and Rachel, making the other demigods laugh and a few of the Olympians crack a smile, even try to stifle a chuckle. Andromeda didn't even blink.

"You guys suck!" Percy said, though his eyes were flashing with amusement.

**Yeah. You could say that.**

"See? You even agree with us!" laughed Thalia, throwing everyone into a fit of laughter again. This time Apollo and Hermes both laughed openly, to the surprise of the demigods, though they were still caught up in laughing themselves.

**I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it,**

This froze everyone in their place. "Short miserable life?" echoed Thalia, her voice a little surprised. "Um, yeah. You have to admit, no demigod ever has much a happy ending," said Percy, looking surprised at the protective light that sprang into her eyes.

Nico clapped Percy on the back. "Well, we'll have to change that, won't we?" he asked, smiling. Percy just shrugged.

Poseidon's fists clenched silently. 'I'll have to keep a better eye on him,' he thought, gritting his teeth at the possibility of his son getting hurt. Luckily, nobody noticed his anger….. except for Andromeda, but she ignored it for now.

**-but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan – twenty-eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**

"'Stuff'? 'Stuff'? ! Young man, those are very important artifacts! You can't just call them 'stuff'!" snapped Athena, her eyes gleaming angrily. Percy blushed and hid his face behind the book to avoid her angry glare.

**I know – it sounds like torture.**

**"**No it doesn't," said Annabeth, looking indignant, but all of her friends just stared at her like she was nuts.

**Most Yancy field trips were.**

**But Mr. Brunner,**

Chiron raised his head. He met Percy's eyes, and Percy nodded. 'It's me,' Chiron thought, surprised; he almost never went to watch a demigod unless they were very powerful.

**-our Latin teacher, was leading the trip, so I had hopes.**

**Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.**

"Sleeping in class? Definitely not a son of Athena," said Annabeth, scowling at Percy along with her mother. Percy just shrugged and continued:

**I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.**

"Nice one Perce. You jinxed yourself," laughed Nico, Thalia and Rachel smirking beside him at Percy's look of annoyance.

**Boy, was I wrong.**

"Told you so!" said Nico. "Nico," said Percy slowly. "Yes?" asked Nico innocently. "Shut up before I destroy you," Percy hissed. He was joking, but his eyes were alight with such a malignant light that Nico surrendered.

**See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway.**

**And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim. And the time before that... Well, you get the idea.**

"DUDE, THIS GUY IS AWESOME!" shouted both Stoll brothers as all of the demigods burst out laughing. Travis was on the floor, rolling around in hysterics, while Connor was hyperventilating, trying not to pass out.

The goddesses were doing a pretty good job at keeping straight faces, but Hermes and Apollo were both hugging each other, laughing so hard they almost fell out of their thrones. The other gods were in no better shape; Poseidon looked ready to laugh until his face was red, but he was trying hard to hold it in, and Ares looked ready to pass out from lack of air like Connor.

Thalia, Nico and Rachel all laughed, but it was only half-hearted; they knew that the awful things that happened to Percy wouldn't stop there. Not by a long shot.

**This trip, I was determined to be good.**

**All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover**

At the mention of the satyr who was responsible for his daughter's transformation into a tree, Zeus snapped to attention, narrowing his eyes bitterly. Everyone else tensed slightly, feeling his anger. Grover, who had straightened up at the mention of his arrival, quickly shrank in his seat, feeling the angry glare being directed at him from Zeus.

Percy, wanting to spare his friend of the awkward silence, continued:

**-in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich.**

Now this had all of the goddesses shrieking "EEW!", though the loudest was probably Aphrodite, who looked absolutely mortified. Grover grimaced. 'Not looking forward to that,' he thought.

All of the demigod girls looked disgusted, except for Clarisse, who simply concentrated on polishing her spear. "Tell me when the action starts," she yawned to Katie, who just shot her a look of irritation; she was getting hooked by this book already.

**Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled.**

**He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.**

Travis, Connor, Hermes, and Apollo all laughed at Grover's expense, while several of the other gods and goddesses either chuckled or at least cracked a smile. Grover glared at them all, but Andromeda waved her hand at Percy, signaling him to continue.

**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.**

"**I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.**

"Do it! Do it! Do it!" chanted Ares and Clarisse, who had been listening all along but pretending not to. Percy snorted. 'Yeah. _Now _they're on my side,' he thought with a roll of his eyes. Meanwhile, Poseidon was agreeing whole-heartedly with Ares, which was rare. He didn't want anyone messing with his son or his friends.

**Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter."**

Ares and Clarisse huffed in disappointment.

**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**

Aphrodite wrinkled her nose. "Disgusting," she said, her voice filled with a slight nausea.

"**That's it." I started to get up,**

"YES!" Ares and Clarisse cried triumphantly.

**but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**

"Damn it!" Ares snapped, while Clarisse shot a glare at Grover, who quickly slid farther down in his seat, determined not to be noticed – though he was failing miserably.

"**You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know you'll get blamed if anything happens."**

**Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there.**

**In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**

Now everyone in the throne room – except Andromeda – leaned forward in their seats, even Thalia and Nico; they had heard about Percy's past, but this was a firsthand experience.

But Poseidon wasn't excited; he was terrified of what might happen to his son, even if it was a book. He crossed his fingers and tightened his grip on his trident.

**Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.**

**He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.**

**It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.**

"Older than that," corrected Athena, with Annabeth nodding along with her. Andromeda nodded as well, though it was such a tiny nod nobody noticed it; in fact, almost knew she was there anymore. Her presence was being ignored as the excitement began to build in the room.

**He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a **_**stele, **_**for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, **

"Kind of interesting?" asked Annabeth, looking insulted again. Percy shrugged. "I wasn't that interested in this sort of stuff until I found out what I was," he said, and several agreements rose from the other demigods. Annabeth just huffed out a breath.

**-but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.**

**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker.**

Hades recognized the description, but decided it was probably better to play it safe and act dumb; there was no telling who Percy's father might be, but once they figured out who Mrs. Dodds was, they'd probably try to kill him.

**She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.**

Percy snorted. "Nervous breakdown my ass!" he hissed. Thalia smacked him upside the head while Nico and Rachel both giggled. All of the gods and goddesses raised their eyebrows but said nothing. Andromeda remained impassive.

**From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. **

"That's because you are," said Thalia, earning her punch in the neck from her cousin. She choked, and she rubbed her neck as she coughed. "Geez! It was a joke!" she coughed.

Zeus glared at Percy, but Poseidon smiled proudly; his son was sticking up for him to Zeus's daughter in front of her father.

**She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.**

"Ugh, she's awful!" complained Silena, making several people nod in agreement.

**One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."**

"Wow. That's subtle," said Dionysus sarcastically, glaring at his satyr, who shrank even more into his chair. "Nice way to blow your cover man," sighed Thalia, shaking her head at Grover's attempts at being a protector. He was great, but sometimes he let things slip too easily.

**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**

**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you _shut up_?"**

**It came out louder than I meant it to.**

"Yep, nice going Percy," said Nico, patting him on the shoulder in a congratulatory way while his cousin glowered at him.

**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.**

"**Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"**

"Dead meat!" hissed Rachel, earning her a glare from her friend.

**My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."**

**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"**

**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"**

All of the Olympians grimaced and several demigods gagged, but no one noticed the way Percy, Thalia, Nico, and Rachel all turned pale at the mention of Kronos. Andromeda's eyes narrowed; she already knew this was not the last time her father was mentioned, but she said nothing, remaining as still as a rock.

**"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied,** **"And he did****this because ..."**

"**Well..." I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god,**

"GOD? !" snarled the Olympians, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades the loudest of all. Percy flinched and sank a little in his chair. "Nice going, Perce. All of the gods hate you again. Good job!" Nico encouraged him with a pat on the shoulder.

"Yep. Everything's returning to normal," sighed Thalia serenely. Rachel nodded as well. Poseidon, though still insulted, barely suppressed a look of horror; his son was hated by most of the other Olympians? Not good. Not good at all.

-**and—"**

"**God?" Mr. Brunner asked.**

"**Titan," I corrected myself.**

Most of the Olympians gave Percy a grudging apology for their shouts, but Zeus and Hades remained silent.

"**And ... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead.**

"Probably because his head is as thick as one," snorted Poseidon, earning him a small jolt of electricity from his brother.

**And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"**

"**Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.**

Aphrodite wrinkled her nose but said nothing.

"—**and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."**

Silence. Then…. "You just described one of the biggest, most catastrophic wars in history as 'a big fight between the gods and the Titans, and the gods won'?" said Athena, who looked both insulted and amused at the same time.

Percy shrugged. "What? I'm not very good at mythology at this point in time. I get better; trust me, I know _all about _Kronos now," he said darkly. Thalia and Nico both tensed beside him, and the Olympians looked at the trio suspiciously.

**Some snickers from the group.**

"Why are they laughing? He got that right!" said a very confused looking Artemis. Athena just shook her head. "Mortals are weird," she said, as if that pretty much summed it up.

**Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"**

Athena huffed angrily. "It won't say that on a job application, but it's a real historical event; you should learn it!" she snapped, and Annabeth nodded viciously along with her mother.

"**And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"**

"**Busted," Grover muttered.**

Several of the demigods and Apollo and Hermes snickered.

**"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.**

**At least Nancy got packed, too.**

"Victory!" cheered the Stoll's, Hermes, Apollo and, surprisingly, Beckendorf.

**Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.**

**I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."**

"Duh; you're a demigod! Of course it matters! It's all real!" said Thalia. Percy glared at her. "Shut up! I don't know that yet, Pinecone Face!" he snapped.

**"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. **

At this most of the demigods gagged at the thought of their parents or grandparents growing up in such disgusting conditions.

**-The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"**

"Wonderful; 'they grew up inside his stomach, he threw them up, they chopped him into little bitty pieces, and tossed him into the darkest pits of Tartarus. Anyone hungry?'" asked Thalia, causing both her cousins to laugh hysterically.

**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.**

**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."**

**I knew that was coming.**

"No duh. You need to learn this stuff!" said Annabeth, but Percy ignored her as he continued.

**I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"**

**Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go— intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**

"Close, but I haven't seen _everything,_" chuckled Chiron.

"**You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.**

"**About the Titans?"**

"**About real life. And how your studies apply to it."  
><strong>"Come on, Perce; put two and two together!" said Nico, who was leaning forward in anticipation. Percy rolled his eyes at his younger cousin.

"**Oh."**

"**What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."**

**I wanted to get angry; this guy pushed me so hard.**

**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "'What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever _lived, _and their mother, and what god they worshipped.**

"Ugh, I could never remember those at all," grumbled Percy. "It's part of the perks of being a demigod; dyslexia!" said Katie, who was squinting her eyes to try and read the book's cover, though the word 'Jackson' was still trying to escape with all of it's letters doing little tap-dances away from the word.

**But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C— in my life.**

Annabeth looked appalled, but Percy forged ahead before she could say a single word.

**No—he didn't expect me to be _as good; _he expected me to be _better. _And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.**

**I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.**

"Feeling sentimental, brother? That's not like you."

Everyone jumped as Andromeda spoke for the first time, scaring them all half to death as they turned their heads to see her standing there, eyes scanning all of them with equal hostility. Except for Percy; her gaze softened slightly when it landed on him, but it was so fast and hard to see that nobody even noticed.

"Continue please, Jackson," she said, waving her hand at him to signal 'hurry up!'.

**He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

"Food!" sighed Apollo dreamily, Hermes following his example, and soon they were both lost in imagining a huge mountain of food, all for them. Artemis rolled her eyes at her brother's behavior. "Boys," she muttered.

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.**

**Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York State had been weird since Christmas.**

Everyone seemed to freeze up at this, and all eyes drifted to the Big Three; Zeus seemed to have found an amazing discovery on his master bolt and was intently studying it; Poseidon had found an equally shocking discovery on his sandals as he kept his eyes firmly on his feet; and Hades was glaring at the both of them, suspicious of the both of them.

Andromeda cleared her throat to gain everyone's attention. "I believe we can all wait for an answer; don't you think?" she asked, sending glares full of murderous intent toward everyone. Needless to say, they all stopped staring for now.

"Continue once again, Percy," she sighed.

**We'd had massive snowstorms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.**

Everyone was staring at the brothers once again, and although they were trying hard to hold it in, Andromeda could tell it wouldn't be long before they cracked and asked them what was wrong. "The answers will come in time," she assured before anyone had a chance to ask.

**Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing. **

"What an awful woman!" sniffed Hera disdainfully. She'd been in foul mood since Thalia showed up, but now she was just about ready to wring someone's neck for answers; she wanted to know why Zeus was angry, and if it involved their family being in danger.

**Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from **_**that **_**school—the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**

"**Detention?" Grover asked.**

"**Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a genius."**

"Ah, you finally accept the truth of your own stupidity!" said Thalia. "I'm so proud of you cousin!" cried Nico. Both of them congratulated him until they both heard the sound of water lapping inside the small garden pool outside the throne room. They shut up.

**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"**

Grover turned a little red as the demigods all started to laugh. "Why is it always me that gets the embarrassing parts?" he grumbled, and Thalia waved her hand at him.

"Believe me, Percy gets himself into even worse situations; trust me, I know!" she laughed as Percy smacked her upside the head.

**I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.**

**I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**

"What a wuss!" said Clarisse. Thalia raised a finger and an electric arc shot out of her fingertip, shocking Clarisse with a burst of energy. "What the hell!" she snapped. Thalia smirked. "Percy may be an idiot, but he's just about the bravest guy I know; and believe me, I've seen him in action. I know what I'm talking about."

**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.**

**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends—I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists—and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

"Ugh!" groaned all of the goddesses and the female demigods in unison.

"**Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**

"You have a really strange way of describing things, Perce," said Nico. Percy shrugged. "What can I say? I have a weird imagination."

**I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.**

"A wave?"

Everyone seemed to freeze up at Zeus's quiet question. Athena clenched her fists; this was the only possible conclusion she could come to, but it would not end with peace between the brothers.

"Percy Jackson," she said, "Are you-"

"I do believe you can wait a few more chapters to confirm your suspicions, Lady Athena. We can discuss this after the chapter," suggested Andromeda; she had moved between Percy and Zeus as she spoke. She knew that even if Zeus was yelling at Poseidon, Percy would be the one in danger.

Athena looked surprised and a little angry, but she nodded reluctantly.

**I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"**

**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**

**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"**

"—**the water—"**

"—**like it grabbed her—"**

Everyone once again tensed as electricity arced in the air. Zeus was still glaring at Poseidon, who was doing his best to look anywhere but at his brother or his son.

**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

**As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey—"**

**"I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."**

"You idiot! You never guess the punishment unless you're begging from some serious crap!" cried Travis and Connor. Hermes nodded with his sons. "Thievery 101," he said as an explanation. "We really must teach you the real deal when you get to Camp!" exclaimed Connor, and Travis nodded along. Percy just rolled his eyes.

**That wasn't the right thing to say.**

"**Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.**

"**Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. _I _pushed her."**

**I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.**

"And I wonder why," sighed Annabeth sarcastically. Grover cringed. "I'm such a pathetic protector!" he wailed. Percy winced. "Nah, you're the best protector yet, G-man!" he said. Grover smiled at him sadly.

Andromeda smiled as well, her eyes swimming with old memories that had been erased from his mind. 'I wonder what he'll do when he finds out,' she thought quietly.

**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**

"**I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.**

"**But—"**

"**You—**_**will**_—**stay—here."**

**Grover looked at me desperately.**

"**It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."**

"**Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "_Now_."**

Poseidon began to panic silently; if that woman really was the monster, what would happen to Percy? Would he be alright?

Andromeda smirked. She knew what was coming; how Percy would make it out alive. But when it happened, would he remember her? Or would there still be a blank space where she was supposed to be?

**Nancy Bobofit smirked.**

**I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare.**

"Oh please, your death-stare has nothing on mine!" said Nico triumphantly. "And we all know why," said Thalia, thwacking Nico on the head and making him yelp.

**Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.**

**How'd she get there so fast?**

"Monster. Duh!" said Rachel, but her fists were clenched. She and just about everyone in the room – minus Andromeda and Dionysus – were leaning forward in their seats, very eager to hear about this.

"This better finally be an action scene!" snarled Ares, and Clarisse nodded; they both had the gleam of bloodlust written in their eyes.

**I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**

**I wasn't so sure.**

**I went after Mrs. Dodds.**

**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel.**

Chiron grinned sheepishly as Hera gave him a disapproving look.

**I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**

**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**

**But apparently that wasn't the plan.**

**I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.**

**Except for us, the gallery was empty.**

"Oh beautiful work, Perce. You're with a dangerous monster with no weapons, no back-up, and no witnesses. How thick-headed can you be? !" cried Rachel, quickly reaching over and smacking him on the head fiercely.

Though he remained silent, Poseidon agreed whole-heartedly. 'Why does it have to be _my_ son that gets stuck with a monster alone?' he moaned inwardly.

**Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**

Poseidon had to restrain himself from putting his head in his hands; this was getting worse every second.

**Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...**

Athena glanced at Hades and shared a look with Artemis; she knew what monster this was, but she said nothing yet.

"**You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.**

**I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."**

**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"**

"Get away with what, for Pete's sake? !" cried Silena. Several people jumped in surprise at her outburst.

**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.**

**She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**

"Yes she will!" sighed Thalia in a singsong voice.

**I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am."**

**Thunder shook the building.**

**"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**

**I didn't know what she was talking about.**

**All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room.**

The Stoll twins both gave Percy a thumbs-up.

**Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on **_**Tom Sawyer **_**from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.**

"How can you not have read it? ! It's a classic!" cried Annabeth. Percy grimaced. "Books are _not _my forte," he muttered, and Rachel snickered. "Got that right," sighed Nico.

**"Well?" she demanded.**

"**Ma'am, I don't..."**

"**Your time is up," she hissed.**

**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**

"FURY!" screamed all of the demigods at once except for Thalia and Nico, who both simply grimaced; they'd faced worse.

Poseidon, on the other hand, was resisting the urge to tackle Hades right then and there, but he held it back; Zeus could _not _know who Percy was until later.

**Then things got even stranger.**

**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**

"**What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.**

"'What ho?' What the hell?" muttered Nico, causing several of the demigods and Rachel to giggle loudly.

**Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword—Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**

**Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.**

**My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.**

"Wuss," muttered Ares and Clarisse, but nobody really heard them; they were too caught up in the story.

**She snarled, "Die, honey!"**

**And she flew straight at me.**

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I tried to swing the sword, but with a loud _clang!, _my blade was stopped by something and Mrs. Dodds was launched backwards by something else.**

Everyone froze. Percy was squinting at the words in confusion. "What the? I don't remember it happening that way," he said, his voice soft. "That's because you didn't need to remember this moment," said a voice.

They all turned to see Andromeda, her arms crossed over her chest, her hip to one side a little like a model. "Say what?" said Percy. Andromeda smiled. "I can't tell you anything, remember? You need to read this – and remember this – on your own," she said, pointing to the book. Percy began reading again:

**I blinked in shock. A girl about my age with auburn hair and grey eyes stood in front of me, a long dagger in one hand, a shield on her other arm. She wore some dress that looked like it was from one of those old Ancient Greek mythology movies that had monsters and heroes fighting each other for the pretty maiden. **

Now everyone was confused now, but Andromeda ignored their questioning looks.

**"Percy, if there was ever a time for you to learn how to use that sword, it would be now!" she ordered. Her voice was like freezing cold ice, but her tone held such authority, I couldn't help but think that she'd given me orders before.**

**I shakily held the sword in front of me, and the girl backed up until she was right next to me. "She'll charge in a second, and you'll have to face her alone," she said. "Aim for her vital spots; heart, neck, arteries, organs. Just make sure she disintegrates."**

**"And what about you?" I asked. I knew it was a pathetic thing to say, but this girl looked ready to kill this thing; why couldn't she do it?**

"Yeah, why can't you do it?" asked Nico. Everyone turned to Andromeda, but she just pursed her lips and signaled Percy to continue again.

**The girl just gave me the tinniest hint of a smile. "If I did that you'd never learn to fight your own battles. Good luck," she said. "Wait!" I cried, but the girl had already dissolved into a flash of golden sparks, and I was left alone with a monster.**

**I tightened my grip on the sword as it advanced slowly. "The master will be pleased, yes!" it hissed. "We haven't found a demigod worthy of one of the Guardians since before your family line was born! He will take great pleasure in ripping you apart until you tell us where it is!"**

**Again, I still had no idea what it was talking about, but I didn't have time to ask; the monster suddenly leaped straight at me.**

Nobody dared make a comment here; they were all leaning forward in anticipation.

**I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.**

**The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. _Hisss!_**

"WHOOHOO!" cried the demigods, and they all cheered loudly. Andromeda was smiling as well, though almost nobody noticed it; except Percy. He could remember her now; as if reading about that moment had rewritten his memory to this.

Andromeda caught his eye and she shook her head. Before he could say anything, she mouthed, '_Later_'.

**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**

**I was alone.**

**There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**

"Hmph. The Mist is still affecting you. That's weak," said Ares, though it earned him a punch on the arm from his newest aunt Andromeda.

**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**

**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.**

"You always gotta blame the mushrooms," sighed Demeter; she felt bad for the plant. What? She _was _the goddess of the harvest, you know!

**Had I imagined the whole thing?**

**I went back outside.**

**It had started to rain.**

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."**

"Who?" asked Hestia; it was the first time she'd spoken at all, and she had faded a bit into the background like Andromeda.

**I said, "Who?"**

"**Our _teacher._ Duh!"**

**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.**

"The Mist," said Athena with a knowing look.

**She just rolled her eyes and turned away.**

**I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**

**He said, "Who?"**

**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**

"Wow man. You _really _gotta visit our cabin sometime. We'll teach you to be a lying extraordinaire!" cried the Stoll's.

"**Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."**

**Thunder boomed overhead.**

**I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.**

**I went over to him.**

**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."**

The Stoll's and Chris Rodriguez all applauded Chiron, who looked a little proud, a little annoyed.

**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.**

"**Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**

**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

"**The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."**

**He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"**

Percy grimaced. "That was _really _freaky," he sighed, and placed a slip of paper from his pocket into the book to bookmark the page. "The first chapter's done!" he announced.

Everyone leaned back a bit in their chairs. "So… why does this book say one thing and I remember another?" asked Percy. All eyes turned to Andromeda, who sighed.

"If you're patient, this will all be revealed in later chapters. The only thing I can tell you is that when you were traveling back in time, your memories," she said, but this time she was directing her gaze at Percy, Thalia, Nico and Rachel, "Were tampered with. You remembered what we wanted you to. We couldn't have you remember everything, or else it would just complicate matters. Get it?"

"No," muttered Nico, and Thalia shook her head. Rachel and Percy exchanged a glance but said nothing.

/\/\/\/\

_A/N: And, it is done! WHOO! Okay, I know, Andromeda was NEVER in the original storyline, but she is in this fanfiction! And if you don't like that, you can just find another story to read! Anyway, please review or vote for this story in my profile poll if you want it updated more often! Laters!  
>-Wind<em>


	3. Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death

"Alright then. Who shall read next?" asked Andromeda.

"I will," said Nico, raising a hand. Percy passed the book to him and he cleared his throat.

"**Three Old Ladies Knit The Socks of Death." **Nico read.

"Oh, dear," sighed Rachel. She and Thalia both grimaced, and the other demigods and Olympians watched them, confused. "Is there ever a peaceful chapter in this book?" asked Chris. "No," sighed Percy. This of course did nothing to help with Poseidon's nerves.

**I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twenty-four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. **

**The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr-a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip-had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.**

"Man, the Mist can be really annoying," sighed Percy with a shake of his head, and Thalia smirked. "Amen," she agreed, high-fiving him.

**I saw no sign of the strange auburn-haired girl either, but that didn't stop me.**

**Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho.**

"Duh. That's 'cause you are psycho!" exclaimed Rachel. Percy huffed indignantly. "I'm not psycho! That's Nico's job!" he snapped. "Guilty as charged!" said Nico proudly with a wide, maniacal grin.

**It got so I almost believed them – Mrs. Dodds had never existed.**

**Almost.**

**But Grover couldn't fool me.**

Everyone snorted at this. Grover looked a little dejected, but then Connor clapped him on the back. "No worries, my young satyr! Me and Travis will teach you everything we know about lying when we get back to camp!" he exclaimed.

"Don't bother; the satyrs a useless liar," said Dionysus as he perused through a magazine, listening to the story but unwilling to admit it.

**When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist**. **But I knew he was lying.**

**Something was going on. Something _had_ happened at the museum.**

**The freaky thing was, my memory of the girl seemed to be fading. Every time I tried to remember the exact shade of auburn and grey that matched the mysterious girl's hair and eyes, the image didn't look right, and when I tried to place a voice to her face, it just sounded completely wrong.**

**I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings and the girl shouting at me to do something about it would wake me up in a cold sweat.**

"Wuss!" called Ares and Clarisse in singsong voices, but everyone was ignoring them again.

**The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy.**

Once again, everyone began staring at the Big Three brothers like they were from outer space. Zeus was once again examining his master bolt, while Poseidon seemed to be looking for new constellations on the star-covered ceiling. Hades was glowering at them but said nothing.

**One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.**

*Cue staring again* Andromeda rolled her eyes. "Curiosity killed the cat!" she called in a singsong voice, making everyone jolt in surprise; she had disappeared into the background again until that moment.

**I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs.**

**I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class.**

Ares smirked. This kid wasn't so bad in his opinion.

**Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot. I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.**

Everyone snorted, and the demigods all burst into fits of giggling. It took about five minutes until Nico could talk again.

**The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.**

**Fine, I told myself. Just fine.**

**I was homesick.**

"Aw, Prissy Princess Percy misses his wittle mommy!" mocked Clarisse, making Ares snort with laughter.

Nico stared at them and said solemnly, "If you ever met her or had her chocolate chip cookies you'd miss her too." "Exactly!" exclaimed Thalia, and she high-fived her cousin.

**I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.**

Poseidon frowned. That did _not _sound good at all.

**And yet . . . there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend, even if he was a little strange.**

Grover grinned at Percy gratefully, and Percy gave him a thumbs-up. Annabeth watched out of the corner of her eye; maybe Percy wasn't so bad.

**I worried how he'd survive next year without me. I'd miss Latin class, too – Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well.**

**As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for. **

Athena looked appalled but she said nothing, just huffing in irritation.

**I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner told me about this subject being life-a-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him.**

"Good thing too, or else you'd be getting _nowhere _in the world of magic," said Travis sagely, though Katie just rolled her eyes at him.

**The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the _Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology _across my dorm room. **

Athena sent Percy a fierce death glare but again said nothing.

**Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin Verbs? Forget it.**

"Man, I feel your pain," sighed Nico, patting Percy on the shoulder with a cheeky grin. Percy just rolled his eyes and told him to keep reading.

**I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.** **I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. **_**I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson.**_

**I took a deep breath. I picked up my mythology book.**

**I'd never asked a teacher for help before. **

"That's probably why you do so bad in school," said Athena critically Annabeth nodded with her, though she couldn't help but sympathize with Percy; he was stubborn, and so was she.

**Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.**

**I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.**

**I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice was definitely Grover's said ". . . worried about Percy, sir."**

"And so it begins," said Nico in a dramatic stage-whisper. Andromeda snorted with laughter, making everyone jump again; was she purposefully fading into the furniture or what? It was like she just turned into mist every second she didn't want to be seen; it was freaky.

**I froze.**

**I'm not usually an eavesdropper,** **but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.**

Artemis rolled her eyes. 'Boys always try to hear things they shouldn't', she thought knowingly.

**I inched closer.**

"**. . . alone this summer." Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the _school_! Now that we know for sure, and _they_ know too-"**

"**We would only make matters worse by rushing him." Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more."**

"**But he may not have time! Monsters will start flocking to him once word spreads that he has a Guardian, and the summer solstice dead-line-"**

Everyone tensed, hoping to get information.

"**Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can."**

Everyone huffed in disappointment and glared at Chiron, who ignored them.

"**Sir, he _saw_ Mrs. Dodds! He even saw _Andromeda!_ He'll want to know-!"**

"**His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that."**

"**Sir, I . . . I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."**

At this Thalia looked at the ceiling, ignoring the stared of sympathy and sadness being sent her way.

"**You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall-"**

**The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.**

"You idiot! Don't give away your position!" cried Thalia, thwacking Percy in the head harder than she meant to. His eyes rattled in his head but he said nothing.

**Mr. Brunner went silent.**

**My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.**

**A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow.**

**I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.**

**A few seconds later I heard a slow _clop-clop-clop, _like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on.**

**A bead of sweat tickled down my neck.**

**Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."**

"What happened at the solstice?" asked Hestia curiously. "Cat," Andromeda reminded them, but Hestia just smiled and sat back; she would be patient.

"**Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn . . ."**

"**Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."**

"**Don't remind me."**

**The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.** **I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever. **

**Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm.** **Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.**

"**Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to get ready for this test?"**

**I didn't answer.**

"**You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?"**

"**Just . . . tired."**

**I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed.**

**I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.**

"You didn't," Rachel said with a sigh.

**But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.**

**The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam,**

"Three hours," moaned Travis and Connor, both of them going cross-eyed as they began muttering awful things about the world's education systems.

**-my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside.**

**For a moment I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.** **"Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's . . . it's for the best."**

**His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic kissing motions with her lips.**

Andromeda's expression soured greatly and a cold wind blew through the throne room, making everyone shiver. They wisely decided not to ask.

**I mumbled, "Okay, sir."**

"**I mean . . ." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."**

**My eyes stung.**

Andromeda walked very near Clarisse before she could say anything.

**Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.**

"That is pretty harsh," said Katie, wincing in sympathy.

"**Right." I said, trembling.**

"**No, no," Mr. Brunner said. Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say . . . you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be-"**

"**Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me."**

"**Percy-"**

**But I was already gone.**

Thalia patted Percy on the shoulder but said nothing.

**On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.**

**The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were _rich_ juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.**

"Well, considering he's sitting in this room, I'd say he wasn't a _total _nobody," offered Nico. This earned him a punch on the arm and a smack on the head, courtesy of his two cousins. "I hate you both!" he whimpered, but they both laughed and hit him again.

**They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city.**

**What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.**

Everyone winced slightly. Poseidon was _definitely_ worried now.

"**Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool."**

**They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.**

"How rude!" spat Hestia, her eyes narrowed.

**The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city.**

**During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.**

**Finally, I couldn't stand it anymore.**

**I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"**

"Straight and to the point," said Beckendorf. "Bet that scared him pretty bad," said Silena, patting Grover sympathetically on the head.

**Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha- what do you mean?"**

**I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.**

**Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"**

"**Oh . . . not much. What's the summer solstice deadline?"**

"That's what I want to know!" snapped Hera; she was worried about her family and she wanted answers, damn it!

**He winced. "Look, Percy . . . I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers . . ."**

"**Grover-"**

"**And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and . . ."**

"**Grover, you're a really, really bad liar."**

**His ears turned pink.**

**From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer."**

**The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, but I finally made out something like:**

_**Grover Underwood**_

_**Keeper**_

_**Half-Blood Hill**_

_**Long Island, New York**_

_**(800) 009-0009**_

"Ugh, those cards are murder on my dyslexia!" moaned almost all of the half-bloods. All of the gods glared at Dionysus, and he made a mental note that he would change the cards before he got murdered.

"**What's Half-"**

"**Don't say it aloud!" He yelped. "That's my, um . . . summer address."**

**My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.**

"**Okay." I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion."**

Everyone smirked. "Mansion," scoffed Clarisse.

**He nodded. "Or . . . or if you need me."**

"**Why would I need you?"**

Hestia gave Percy a gentle scolding glare, and he grinned sheepishly.

**It came out harsher than I meant it to.**

"Good. You feel guilty," muttered Silena as she patted Grover's head again.

**Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look Percy, the truth is, I-I kind of have to protect you."**

**I stared at him.**

**All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. **

"Aw, you care so much about your friends!" cooed Aphrodite, making everyone laugh and Percy blushed. "Keep reading, di Angelo!" he ordered. Nico obliged.

**And here he was acting like he was the one who defended _me._**

"**Grover," I said, "What exactly are you protecting me from?"**

**There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs.**

'Not good,' thought Poseidon with a sigh. His son might be in trouble again. Great.

**The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.**

**After a few minutes clanking around in the engine around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else.**

**We were stretch of country road-no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.**

"Why does that sound….. eerily familiar?" asked Athena. Nobody answered her.

**The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of blood red cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice. Despite the fact that there were no customers, a girl with auburn hair was standing behind the fruit stand, leaning on the woodwork like it was the only thing supporting her weight.**

**I jumped and looked again. Yep. It was _her_; the girl from the museum. She locked her grey eyes with my green eyes and smiled warmly. Her eyes seemed to glow with an unnatural light for a second, but it was gone too quickly for me to be sure.**

Everyone was now looking about said-auburn-haired girl now, but she stood as still as a statue, ignoring them completely as she listened to Nico.

**Right behind her, three old ladies sat in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.**

**I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.**

**All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.**

"Oh my gods, the Fates!" gasped Artemis, and all the other gods and goddesses gasped in horror and tensed. The demigods all stiffened so much, Percy was sure they'd never be able to move again.

Now everyone's attention was directed at him; they all gaped and stared at him, gawking like he was a zoo animal. "How are you alive? !" whispered Annabeth. Percy winced.

Nico, Thalia and Rachel gripped each other's arms; they had never heard of Percy's run in with the Fates before. "Continue and you'll find out," said the quiet voice of Andromeda. Quietly, like it was a magic incantation, Nico began reading again:

**The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.**

**I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.**

"**Grover?" I said. "Hey, man-"**

"**Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"**

"**Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"**

"**Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."**

Everyone smiled slightly, but they didn't dare break the moment of tension.

**The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors-gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.**

Poseidon held his breath, not daring to breathe.

"**We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on."**

"**What?' I said. "It's thousand degrees in there."**

"Come on! Listen to him!" exclaimed Annabeth. Athena was so caught up in the book she didn't even bother shooting a look at her daughter.

"**Come on!" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back.**

"NO, DON'T!" screamed all of the half-bloods except Percy.

**Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The girl had turned to them and seemed to say something that I guessed was probably like, _You're really going to cut it?_ The middle lady nodded. The girl turned back to me and I saw a flash of sympathy flood her grey eyes and she mouthed to me, _Sorry._**

**The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that _snip_ across four-lanes of traffic.**

Silence enveloped them. The demigods, Rachel, and Poseidon had all turned extremely pale in the light of Hestia's hearth. Andromeda was smiling sadly and she nodded at Nico to continue.

**Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for- Sasquatch or Godzilla.**

**At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.**

**The passengers cheered.**

Everyone started to relax a little, but the demigods, Rachel, and Poseidon were still extremely pale compared to their usual complexions.

"**Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"**

**Once we got going I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu.**

Everyone tensed up again. 'Damn it, why is it always _my son _in danger? !' Poseidon wailed silently to the sky.

**Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.**

"**Grover?"**

"**Yeah?"**

"**What are you not telling me?"**

**He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"**

"**You mean the girl and the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like . . . Mrs. Dodds, are they?"**

"Worse," hissed Annabeth. Athena nodded with her and said nothing.

**His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies and the girl were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. He said, "Just tell me what you saw."**

"**The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn. Then the girl told me 'sorry'."**

**He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost-older.**

**He said, "You saw her snip the cord."**

"**Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal. **

"**This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumbs. "I don't want this to be like the last time."**

"**What last time?"**

"**Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth."**

"**Grover," I said, because he was really starting to scare me, "What are you talking about?"**

"**Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me."**

**This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could.**

"**Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.**

**No answer.**

"**Grover-that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?"**

**He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.**

Nico placed the bookmark back and slapped the book closed. He stood, stretched and yawned. "Gods I'm tired. Is there anywhere we can crash for the night?" he asked. This jolted the Olympians out of their various states of shock. They hadn't even realized how late it had gotten until now.

"Ahem, there are some rooms down the corridor on the left for you to stay in. Chiron, if you would," said Zeus, motioning to him to do something. Chiron jumped and said, "Right, follow me, everyone!" He led the main group of demigods away, but Andromeda caught Percy and Nico by the backs of their shirts.

"Oh no you don't. You four are coming with me," she ordered, snatching Thalia and Rachel as well and dragging them all out of the room down a separate corridor, watched the entire time by the Olympians and the other demigods.

/\/\/\/\

_A/N: And? How was that? Hmm? I would very much like to hear your opinions! PLEASE REVIEW or vote for this story in my profile poll to see it updated faster! Oh! And if one more person were to come from the future, who would you choose? Vote now in a review! Laters!  
>-Wind<em>


	4. Intermission: Andromeda's True Feelings

"Ow ow ow ow let go!" whimpered Nico as Andromeda dragged him and his friends to a very secluded garden just outside the main palace. She finally shoved them onto a bench and stood in front of them, her hands on her hips.

"What the HELL was that for? !" snarled Thalia furiously, rubbing a new bruise on her arm from being tossed on a stone bench.

Andromeda's eyes narrowed. "None of you remember me? None of you have seen me until today?" she snapped, her tone dangerously quiet and furious.

They all froze, then Rachel said, "No."

Andromeda glared at her and Rachel flinched, but her glare didn't seem angry; it was hungry, calculating, desperate to know if they knew her. "Are you sure about that? I don't even look familiar?" she asked. This time her voice was quietly filled with pain.

"Sorry, no," said Percy. He didn't know why, but hearing her in pain made him feel like trying to protect her from the hurt she was feeling. It was bizarre; where had that come from? "Why? You obviously know us, but-" began Nico.

"No questions!" Andromeda snapped at him, but all the anger had left her. She sounded close to tears. Without another word, Andromeda spun on her heel and stalked out of the garden, mumbling something that sounded like Latin under her breath.

Percy had no idea how, but he recognized a few words: "_They would do this…. why? Nasty old hags….. make them all pay….. when father comes in, it'll get ugly…._"

"Okay… what was all that about, do you think? Did she really know us?" asked Rachel unsurely. "I have no idea; I mean, none of us even remember her at all!" exclaimed Thalia. "I think I do," said Percy.

They all looked at him, and his face flushed. "I mean-….. well, when I read the part about the museum, and when Nico read the part about the Fates, it's like my memory reset; I remember her being there, but I also remember a version of her not being there at all. It's bizarre," he said quickly. He was utterly and thoroughly confused right now.

/\/\/\/\

When she was sure nobody had followed her or could see her, Andromeda's façade crumbled. She forced her knees to give out – she knew she wasn't supposed to rest her legs at all, but she couldn't stand it at all anymore.

She buried her face in her hands, and tears tracked down her cheeks as what her friends had said came back. _"Sorry, we don't remember you!" _

It was like a cruel joke. Just when she'd been gaining a normal life back in her usual time-period, the Fates had to send her back here with her memory-wiped friends to read some stupid books that probably wouldn't change the future at all.

Life was simply too cruel. Just when she was becoming good friends with Thalia and Rachel. Just when Nico had finally promised to stop pestering her for a date. Just when she thought she might _get_ a date with Percy.

_BANG!_

Suddenly everything was reset back to the beginning, and Andromeda was miserable. _"Don't cry,"_ she told herself, _"Crying makes you look pathetic!"_

But she simply couldn't help it. It was too much, and Andromeda needed to take a break for the night to collect her thoughts. And the morning could wait for now.

/\/\/\/\

_A/N: Yep. A little insight on Andromeda's POV. See? She's not a totally heartless person after all! She's only _mostly _heartless! LOL! Hope you enjoyed this little intermission; please review or vote for this story in my profile poll to see it updated! Laters!  
>-Wind<em>


	5. Intermission: Her Father

Chiron showed Percy and his friends to their rooms, which were quite farther away from the other demigods; this was to prevent any unnecessary questioning, Chiron said as an explanation. After showing them their rooms, he nearly bolted away on those horse legs of his, looking like he was either afraid or trying to win a race with the speed.

"Well that was weird," said Nico. Thalia snorted and gave him a swift _thwack _on the back of the head. "OW!" he yelped, and Percy and Rachel laughed at his tearful expression.

"I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow!" said Rachel, smiling at the boys before she and Thalia disappeared into their room. "Good night!" Percy called, and he and Nico went into their room.

/\/\/\/\

The next morning at what Percy guessed was 9:30, Percy blinked awake to the sound of Nico's obnoxious snoring. Percy rolled his eyes before getting up and getting dressed. He threw a pillow at Nico to wake him up before leaving.

Okay, Olympus was _huge! _Percy could've explored for hours trying to find all of the rooms, but his main focus right now was a training area; just because he and his friends were on some sort of time-traveling vacation doesn't mean they had to let themselves grow soft in their fighting skills.

After wandering for about fifteen minutes, Percy discovered a training arena; but it was already occupied. Bits and pieces of practice dummies lay strewn about the entire length of the arena, and in the middle of the poor dummy carnage was Andromeda, hacking and slicing apart another unfortunate dummy with a wicked long sword that looked like celestial bronze, but with a more… golden tint to it.

When she noticed him, she stopped mid-swing, just as she was about to slice the dummies head off. "Percy!... um, hi!" she said awkwardly, flipping the sword around and placing it back inside its scabbard on her hip. "Impressive," said Percy, motioning to the dummy carnage.

Andromeda blushed and snorted. "Yeah, well, I needed to do something to take my mind off all of this crap. You want to try?" she asked, pulling her blade out and offering the handle to him.

Percy took it warily, slightly afraid she'd try to gut him if he touched it, but once he took a hold of it, he couldn't resist. He let out a long whistle as he turned the blade around in his hand. "What is this? Celestial bronze?" he asked, inspecting it in different angles of light.

"No, it's Imperial gold. It's even rarer than celestial bronze. Its name is _Tempus_," said Andromeda. Percy racked his brain, but he didn't recognize the word as Greek. "Is that Latin?" he asked. Andromeda nodded. "It means time," she explained.

"That's kind of an odd name," said Percy, raising in eyebrow. Andromeda mirrored his look. "Well, my father is _Kronos, _you know," she said. Percy's blood ran cold; he'd forgotten about that until now.

Suddenly, what sounded suspiciously like a clock-tower chime rang through the palace. Andromeda shook herself a little. "It must be time for the reading," she said, snatching her sword Tempus away from Percy and disappearing out the door.

Percy blinked again. 'Daughter of Kronos….. then how is she our friend?' he thought before shaking his head and jogging out of the room after Andromeda.

/\/\/\/\

All of the Olympians were already there, although Dionysus looked bored out of his mind reading a newspaper. The last of the demigods were just arriving when Andromeda and Percy appeared.

"Forgive us for being late, it was my fault," said Andromeda, her voice returning to its usual cold, dangerous lilt. Nobody cared or nobody dared say anything as Percy quickly walked to his chair between his friends. "What were you doing?" asked Nico, raising his eyebrows mischievously.

Percy ignored him as Andromeda pulled out the book again. "Right. Who reads next?" she asked. "I will!" called Thalia, and Andromeda sent it her way.

Thalia caught the book and opened it to the bookmark and cleared her throat. "Okay. The next chapter is called….."

/\/\/\/\

_A/N: YAY! Another intermission! Okay, I hope you guys liked this chapter! Anyway, review, vote for this story, etc, etc, etc. Laters!  
>-Wind<em>


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